POLICE trying to discover the identity of a woman whose skeleton was found in undergrowth more than 30 years ago have exhumed her body.

The woman, who became known as the Sutton Bank Body, was found beside a quiet road in the North York Moors National Park in August 1981 after an anonymous tip-off.

Despite an 18-month investigation, the woman was never identified and police now hope that advances in DNA technology will finally lead to a breakthrough in the case.

The exhumation of the body from its grave in Malton cemetery, in North Yorkshire, began at midnight.

This morning, a North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "The exhumation went ahead as planned and the remains of the unidentified woman left the cemetery at 7.45am this morning for a designated mortuary to enable samples to be taken for DNA analysis.

"The remains will be returned to the cemetery tomorrow morning for a re-interment service at 11am."

The remains have been removed to allow DNA to be taken from the thigh bone and the teeth if possible.

A religious minister attended during the exhumation and will perform a short service when the remains are reinterred tomorrow, when a wreath will also be laid by North Yorkshire Police.

Officers discovered the skeletal remains of the woman in undergrowth at the top of Sutton Bank, between the villages of Scawton and Rievaulx, after receiving a call from a person who was never identified.

A forensic examination of the body, which a pathologist estimated could have been there for up to two years, was inconclusive and the post-mortem examination failed to establish a cause of death.

Further examinations revealed the woman was about 5ft 2ins tall, aged between 35 and 40, with short, dark-coloured hair. She had an old fracture to her right ankle.

No jewellery or personal belongings were found on or near the body.

A three-dimensional wax reconstruction of the woman's head was produced at the time - the first of its kind - but her identity remained a mystery.

One line of inquiry was that the woman was an escaped prisoner from Askham Grange open prison but this appeared to be disproved when the absconder sent two thumbprints and a signature from Ireland.

A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said yesterday: "Thirty years on, the same questions remain: Who was the anonymous caller that sparked the investigation and could hold all the answers? Who was the woman found at the side of a country road at the top of Sutton Bank? What was she doing there? How did she die?

"Despite the long passage of time since the mystery woman's body was discovered, North Yorkshire Police's commitment to finding the answers to these questions remains unchanged.